THE LAST GLORY OF TROY - aka WAR OF THE Trojans, aka THE AVENGER - is the sequel to THE WOODEN HORSE OF TROY, a film that portrayed the Trojan War and also starred Steve Reeves as the eponymous hero Aeneas. This time around, the Trojans are a defeated people, having fled from their sacked city, but a mixture of courage and cunning sees them go on to found what is modern-day Rome.Unfortunately THE LAST GLORY OF TROY is a somewhat lacklustre sequel that more often than not is a rather BORING peplum flick. It has relatively lengthy running time, and much of that running time is made up of small talk between dull characters. Even Steve Reeves doesn't have much of a part to play here, feeling like a supporting character in his own movie, although the cast is populated with familiar faces including Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Liana Orfei and Gianni Garko.The film does pick up for its second half, offering a handful of battle sequences, although the choreography isn't particularly great in these. But it lacks the tight script and focus of the first film and with six different scriptwriters credited it feels like a bit of a confused mess, struggling to make sense of itself.

I saw "The Trojan Horse" a few months ago, the version starring Steve Reeves and I enjoyed it. It's one of the best Sword & Sandals. I thought it was more successful than Robert Wise's HELEN OF TROY or the recent bloated version starring Brad Pitt, which is best forgotten. Wise's HELEN OF TROY is a sharply directed film that's hampered by a lack luster script and a freadfully dull ending. After enjoying the Steve Reeves version of the famous Greek story, I was ready to watch the sequel, "The War of the Trojans".Though another Steve Reeves film like GOLIATH & THE BARBARIANS might be more entertaining to most viewers, the cheese factor keeps it from being a great film. Well this isn't the case with "The War of the Trojans". The cheese factor is very low and the direction is taught and tight. The story is somewhat predictable, certainly for someone who recently watched something like 75 S&S films in a few months but even the familiar storyline wasn't enough to diminish the film's impact.The story continues right after the excellent "The Trojan Horse", when the fleeing people of Troy arrive in Italy and try to settle there. Problems arise when the King of a nearby Kingdom grants the people of Troy the right to live near the Tiber river. In-fighting within the Kingdom, lead by Turno, who sees the Trojans as a threat, creates a scheme to make the Trojans look evil. A war between the Trojans and the Kingdom erupts. Losing the battle, the Trojans, lead by Aeneas (played by the legendary Steve Reeves), become allies with the Etruscans, the sworn enemies of the Kingdom. The neverending battle causes a lot of deaths and casualties on both sides. Desperate to end the war, both sides agree to settle the war with a duel between Aeneas and Turno.The beginning is talky but it's worth staying on for what's to come. Here's a short list of memorable scenes: when Aeneas sees the mural which recounts the battle of Troy, with flashbacks from "The Trojan Horse". For once, flashbacks from another movie actually work here; the archery duel; the scene with the wild boars; the killing of Eurialo; the duel at the end.The cast is surprisingly good, with memorable characterization by the Queen and King Turno. The Queen is unforgettable, whoever played her. And King Turno is well played by Gianni Garko. Fans of SPACE 1999 will recognize Garko, who was Toni Cellini in the famous DRAGON'S DOMAIN episode. The only really weak part of the cast is Camilla, the young Amazonian woman. The purpose of her character is interesting but her dated hairstyle and appearance are the only incongruous elements in the film. The sets look real. Yes, it's not as spectacular and elaborate as "The Trojan Horse" but it doesn't need big moments to demonstrate the struggle of the displaced Trojan people which lead to the creation of Rome. And the score is excellent, one of the best I've heard in a Peplum. But the thing that tie all this beautifully together is the mature and assured direction. The compositions and constant smooth tracking shots give the film a greater professional look/feel than most films of the genre, which are often described static. Many moments could have easily turned into typical Peplum camp or silliness but here they were sharply set-up, creating tense or genuine emotional moments up to end. And one feels they actually learned something about history too. The film is believable too, which is no mean feat for a Sword & Sandal film.I've watched many S&S films recently and this one stands out from the pack. It's clearly overlooked. People must have had Peplum fatigue back then for this film to be forgotten as it is now."The Trojan Horse" and "War of the Trojans" make an excellent double bill, for fans of Steve Reeves but history buffs as well.

This is an unnecessary and very much inferior sequel to THE Trojan HORSE (1961), evidently made on a reduced budget (though the murky, pan-and-scan print I watched certainly did no favors to it or the scenes from the original which were interspersed into the narrative as flashbacks!); Steve Reeves reprises his role of Enea - whose lineage, we are told, eventually led to Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome (incidentally, the actor appeared in a peplum about that very event called DUEL OF THE TITANS [1961]!) - but his performance here is somewhat mechanical and less convincing...though that may be due to the English dubbing, whereas I had watched the earlier film in Italian!! As a whole, THE AVENGER (the print I watched bore the title THE LAST GLORY OF TROY, given to it when sold to TV) is only marginally better than the ordinary peplum: the plot is rather dreary this time around, in comparison to the fascinating events depicted in the original; the cast - despite the presence of Euro-Cult regulars like Gianni Garko (essaying the role of the villain) and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (effectively dispatched by a hail of arrows in the style of Akira Kurosawa's THRONE OF BLOOD [1957]!) - is less interesting; and the battle sequences are only memorable for the ridiculously-shaped helmets with which the warriors on both fronts are saddled!!

I discovered the sword and sandal films of Steve Reeves about 12 years ago, and this is easily the most wooden and boring one of all. Most of Reeves' muscleman acting efforts are compelling enough and have a couple of good supporting actresses and veteran Italian actors. The VHS tape I have was of poor film quality, I believe it was even B&W. This one fails to keep your attention either on Reeves himself or a decent storyline. Better efforts are obviously Hercules, Giant of Marathon, Duel of Titans (massive hero role), Morgan the Pirate, and Thief of Baghdad (good costume roles w/solid story lines). This one will put you to sleep - it was a rushed afterthought of this genre.